Chapter Four;

Sirius spent nearly five hours in the Forbidden Forest with Severus. They didn't talk to each other, just tracked down a certain flower which was needed for Remus' Wolfsbane Potion. Sirius listened quietly as Severus explained the properties of the flower they needed, as well as how to make the Wolfsbane, to him it sounded very difficult, he was considered fair in Potions in school, passing it with an E for Exceeds Expectations, but /this/ the Wolfsbane sounded damn near impossible, yet Severus did it every month.

When they finally finished gathering what they needed, Sirius wiped the sweat from his brow then glancing down at his muggle watch, "It's 7:06PM, Snape, we should head back in to get ready for dinner," Sirius suggested, turning to see Snape sitting against a tree, his cloak hanging over his shoulders, 'When did he take off his cloak?' Sirius thought to himself, staring at Severus as he stood up and nodded his head, he wore a white long-sleeved button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the first two buttons open to reveal his very pale neck, then normal black trousers.

"It's rude to stare, Black," Severus said, putting back on his cloak.

"Wha-?" Sirius blurted out, snapping out of his gawking, "Sorry. Shall we?" he asked gesturing towards the path which led to the castle. With Severus' nod they both walked up in silence back to the castle, separating without a good-bye to get ready for dinner.

After forty-five minutes Sirius walked out of his chambers wearing an almost Scarlet colored robe, and freshly showered. He looked down at his watch, '7:47PM…' he thought to himself as he pushed the door open through the Professors' entrance to the Great Hall to see all the other students already seated as well as the Professors, and one free spot in between Remus and Minerva. He took the seat and beamed at Remus, ignoring Remus' look that said "Where the bloody hell have you been all day?"

After the sorting, dinner was a quiet affair, or for Sirius it was, around the hall everyone was chattering away, Remus said very few words to him as he was engrossed in a conversation with Minerva about Animagus transformations or something, he wasn't really paying attention. He pushed his food on his plate around, not very hungry, for some reason he had butterflies in his stomach. He gazed up to see Severus talking to Madam Pince, he wondered how he did it, Pince yelled at everyone, yet he had never seen her once yell at Severus, maybe she liked him? 'Yeah, well, he's gay, so back off, Pince,' he thought to himself, absentmindedly putting piece of carrot in his mouth and propping his chin into his palm to rest it.

As dinner ended, he couldn't have been more relieved. He stood up and quickly left the hall as he wasn't the Head of any house and headed towards his chambers. When he arrived, he looked down at his watched and saw that it was 9:02PM; he knew Severus would be giving a small speech to his new Slytherins, or so rumor told him he did yearly, and took the chance to change.

When he finally finished, he saw that it was 9:09PM. He looked around his rooms to make sure there were no clothes or anything lying around. Satisfied with the condition of his rooms, he went into the kitchen built in and grabbed a bottle of Firewhiskey as well as two glasses, setting them on a table in the living area between two chairs.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was only a minute later than before. He grew impatient and began pacing, 'Why are you so jumpy?' he asked himself as he noticed the butterflies had come back. 'What the bloody hell is wrong with you?' he asked once again after stopping his pacing and pondering on /why/ he had butterflies. When he heard the knock at the door, he shook his head side to side to clear his thoughts, blaming the butterflies on just being intimidated on having Severus in /his/ chambers to have a drink and talk.

When he opened the door, his jaw dropped at what Severus was in, something quite similar to him actually, black jeans and a muggle-styled black long-sleeved shirt. Severus snorted at the reaction, "Are you going to invite me in? Or stand there drooling?" he asked, tilting his head waiting for an answer. Sirius blinked and closed his mouth, he was /not/ drooling.

"Yeah, come on in."

Severus walked in and looked around the chambers, "Honestly, I expected more… Gryffindor décor," he said after seeing Sirius' rooms consisted of a boring shade of brown.

"Well, I haven't gotten the chance to decorate much, so excuse the lack of Scarlet and Gold," Sirius responded as he took his seat and poured two glasses of Firewhiskey, "Firewhiskey?" he offered to Severus.

"Well that /is/ what I'm here for, so yes, a glass of Firewhiskey sounds swell," Severus responded dryly as he took the other seat and carefully took the glass into his hand to take a sip.

Sirius sat back with his glass, staring at the fire, trying to think of what to talk about. "Uh," he muttered out.

"Yes…?" Severus asked as he watched Sirius stare out into his own world.

"What? Oh, uh, fancy a game of Wizards Chess?" he asked, giving him a smile.

Severus stared for a moment, nodding his head, "Very well. Though I hope you don't expect to win…"

Sirius chuckled, pulling a board from under the table out and placing it atop, "I'm white, I'll go first," he said as he ordered his first piece to move.

They played a total of four games that night within an hour and a half, each time Sirius winning and Severus getting angrier. "You're cheating," he claimed.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I am not, you just use the /same/ strategy over and over again…" he yawned, looking down at his watch to see it was nearing 11:00PM. "Bloody hell, we've been here almost two hours, I need to head to bed, first day of classes tomorrow," he said, looking up at Severus whom seemed to be in deep thought on his next move in the game. Sirius studied his facial expression, when in thought Severus' tongue poked out of the side of his lips, he almost seemed like he was frowning, and his right thumb would rub against his index and middle finger. It seemed like forever before Severus directed his Knight to move.

Once again Sirius rolled his eyes, moving his Queen in to destroy Severus' Knight then calling check-mate. Severus gave him a glare that Sirius couldn't help but cackle at, "You're dreadful at this game," he responded.

"Right, well. Night, Black," Severus said as he stood up and walked towards the door.

Sirius watched as he got up to leave and stared at him all the way to the door before saying "Same time tomorrow?"

Severus opened the door and froze, slightly shrugging his shoulders before giving a curt nod and leaving to his own chambers.

Sirius gave a faint smile, getting up and walking to his bed for some much needed sleep.